Participating in Change: Engaging Student Veteran Stakeholders in Advocacy Efforts in Clinical Higher Education

Abstract

Two independent research teams led by graduate students from clinical disciplines studied the lived experiences of student veterans transitioning from the military into higher education. Additionally, these projects provided graduate students with training in the research process, application of evidence-based practice in preparation for professional responsibilities and advancement, and collaboration with student veteran stakeholders as coinvestigators and project team members. One study piloted a student veteran orientation course with the aid of veteran stakeholders to better address the overall needs of student veterans on campus. The other study engaged student veteran participants as coinvestigators using the photovoice methodology to illuminate their perspectives on social relationships. Findings in each study added greater depth to previously discovered trends, and revealed insights into student veteran educational priorities, the impact of the transition process on social roles and relationships, graduate research project design, and community advocacy. This study added insight into the factors that affect student veterans’ higher education experience, which can be used to inform future studies conducted at the graduate level, examine interdisciplinary approaches to research and advocacy, amplify the voice of student veterans, and encourage interaction in research between civilian and veteran students.

Seven Connotations of the Word “Transition” in Student Veteran Literature

“…While expectations are considered either internally or externally sourced, the connotation of identity is thought to be internal only. A brief review of the literature reveals that the word "transition" is often used to describe a process of shifting a student's own identity (Albright et al, 2019;Alschuler & Yarab, 2018;Blaauw-Hara, 2017;Borsari et al, 2017;Dobson et al, 2019;Griffin & Gilbert, 2015;Jones, 2013;Naphan & Elliott, 2015;Rumann & Hamrick, 2010).…”

“…Research that included the lifestyle connotation tended to assume that a person transitions back to civilian/student life after leaving military life, and that those two lifestyles are divergent and incompatible (e.g., Dobson et al, 2019). This research usually focuses on the struggle that students have as they adjust to their new lifestyle by learning new routines and habits required of daily life.…”

“…Articles that use this connotation consistently discuss life and culture in terms that compare military lifestyle with the traditional student lifestyle (Griffin & Gilbert, 2015). This analysis appears to one-directional, meaning that the military member transitions from a military lifestyle back to a civilian/student lifestyle in a single motion (Ahern et al, 2015;Burnett & Segoria, 2009;Dobson et al, 2019;Livingston, 2011). The transition back includes social and cultural integration, which suggests that all military members share some form of common background and that if the process is completed successfully, the student can achieve academic success (e.g., Lim et al, 2018).…”

Veterans Health and Well-Being—Collaborative Research Approaches: Toward Veteran Community Engagement

“…The Special Issue expresses a wide range of veteran community engagement and collaboration strategies. These areas include (1) arts-based efforts using theater as a treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder (Ali et al, 2019); (2) engaging with military veteran college students in higher education settings (Dobson et al, 2019; Kent & Buechner, 2019); (3) addressing changes in veteran identity in the aftermath of moral injury and integrations between the chaplaincy and psychology (Antal, et al, 2019); (4) activating multisector coalitions in the United States and Canada for collective impact on veterans issues at the community level (Fewster et al, 2019; this foreword); (5) veteran volunteering as a reintegration strategy in civilian life (Matthieu et al, 2019); (6) examining the experiences of military nurses during and after the Korean War as a reflection on country building and the formalization of nursing as profession in both Korea and the United States (Jun et al, 2019); (7) veteran collaboratively designed mindfulness classes in the VA setting (Uebel); (8) engaging veterans in advisory roles with VA health services research (Wendleton et al, 2019); (9) using photovoice as a strategy to increase trust and communication between veterans larger institutions (True et al, 2019); (10) collaborative research on veteran homelessness issues (Nelson et al, 2019); (11) exploring the lived experiences of recent military veterans using psychedelics as a strategy for self-medication (Hooyer, 2020); (12) and engaged strategies for ecological momentary assessment research of alcohol use among veterans in a community based peer support program (Hall et al, 2019); (13) faith-based coalitions to support veteran reintegration hubs (Bennet, et al); and (14) collaborative design of veteran peer support training curricula (Ruffalo, et al, (in press)).…”

The Future of Veteran Community Engagement: Perspectives on Engaging Veterans and Other Stakeholders in Research Agenda Setting

“…Community reintegration is a historically broad and nuanced subject that involves resuming roles in one's community of choice. Veteran CEnR has been especially informative in this field of inquiry (Ali et al, 2019;DeVoe et al, 2012;Dobson et al, 2021;Elnitsky et al, 2017;True et al, 2021). In keeping with the ideals of CEnR, this article is a collaboration between researchers on the Enhancing Veteran Community Reintegration Research (ENCORE) team and its veteran community partners, referred to later as the multistakeholder partnership (MSP).…”